Five Influential Horror Films

Frankenstein (1910)
This is the original film version of the Mary Shelly book and although not known for being particularly scary (and thought to be lost for 50 years) it still influenced the making of 59 remakes between the years of 1915 and 2005. Having a 12 minute running time and being a silent film barely effects how influential the film was for the future of horrors, perhaps because of the strength of the original story.
However it is known as the founder of gothic horror influencing modern blockbusters such as alien and the Childs play series with the theme of monster over paranormal.

The Exorcist (1973)
This film was probably most known for how it properly introduced the “innocent child-evil possessed child” scenario to horror movies. This story line in its self influenced other greats such as The Omen and more modern films such as The Orphan. With such a twisted storyline and characters it was quickly renown as a terrifying and massive influence to films books and Tv around the world.

Don’t Look Now (1973)
In Don’t Look Now, the only true horror film that Roeg has directed, the reading and misreading of signs not only causes anxiety for the spectator but also becomes life-threatening for the characters. Second sight, premonitions, and communications from beyond the grave—all of these flood the screen (and the mind of the protagonist, John Baxter) with fragmented images, pieces of a narrative that resist coherence. Each fleeting glimpse represents only a tiny part of the larger picture, like a mosaic tile, the fragment of a broken mirror, the light reflecting off the canals of Venice, or an individual frame of motion picture film.
Complete with drowned children, a blind seer, an intimidating clergyman, and an impressive gushing of blood Don’t Look Now manipulates the conventions of the horror genre while it adds its own peculiar sense of foreboding. But even in the film’s closing moments, as the fragmented images fall slowly into place, the resolution keeps the film’s final meaning disturbingly elusive. The viewer is left with the question of which of John Baxter’s aphorisms to believe: “Seeing is believing” or “Nothing is what it seems.”

Films influenced by Don't Look Now;

• Flatliners (1990) Boy in red with hood who is haunting Kiefer Sutherland is similar to haunting child (also in red with hood) who Donald Sutherland (Kiefer's dad) keeps seeing in Don't Look Now.
• Dark Water (2005)Ghost of drowned girl in red jacket; sanity of mother questioned; marital discard.
• Hostel (2005)The pursuit of a figure wearing a red coat through the narrow backstreets of a strange city.
• Silent Hill (2006)Recurring motif of parent chasing the ghost of a child
• The Omen (2006)A girl in a shiny red coat whose face is not shown runs through rainy streets in a creepy sequence.
• Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007)Blood forms a spiral pattern in the opening credits sequence of Sweeney Todd. This red spiral is a recurring motif throughout Don't Look Now (Both films deal with self-destructive obsession).

Dracula (1931)
This movie was also the first of many movies based on the novel, Dracula, written by Bram Stoker. Dracula came out only four years after the first talking picture. Many of these first movies weren't very good because the film studios didn't yet have a grasp on how to pair sound with the visual element. Dracula did a great job with this. Bela Lugosi starred as the title character and his instantly recognisable accent still gives chills to movie goers today. While Frankenstein came out in the same year, Dracula can still be attributed with starting the new monster movie craze. The Mummy (1932) and The Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954) were soon to follow.

Halloween (1978)
Up until this time, movies have mostly been about monsters, zombies, or ghosts. Halloween presented public with a new subgenre of horror: slasher. Instead of an obvious villain with a large on-screen presence, Halloween showed Michael Meyers, a man of no words. Instead, we watch his destruction unfold as he slaughters numerous horny teenagers. This movie started the large slasher trend that continued into the 1980s. We wouldn't have Friday the 13th (1980) without it. The opening scene of the film is also one of the most memorable, as it is shot from the point of view of the killer, this was the first time something like this was done, and it allowed the audience to take on the persona of the killer aswell as creating dramatic irony.